With conference games continuing to separate contenders from pretenders, it's easy to look at the ranked matchups or national spotlight games. But with bowl eligibilty, placement, or championship tiebreakers that could be at stake with any random game, here's a look at games I feel might not be well-publicized yet provide significant impact to the season as a whole.
1. Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech. The Hokies squeaked back into the rankings, though I wish it had been a week later. The last 4 times VT played Pitt, VT was ranked, and the Panthers pulled off the upset (granted, 3 of those times were back in the Big East a decade and 3 Pitt coaches ago, and VT had a disastrous season by its standards last year). This win would be huge for either team, looking to take control of the Coastal Division and say "I'm back!" with a nice win streak after being dominated by Alabama and Florida State in Week 1. And if VT wins, look out Miami...a bye week, Duke, and BC would be all that stands between the Hokies and a potentially epic showdown on November 9 in Sun Life Stadium (possibly in Prime Time, as ESPN/ABC's answer to LSU-Alabama)!
2. South Carolina at Arkansas. Arkansas is on a 3-game losing streak, though they haven't looked too bad in any of those losses. South Carolina has won their last 3, but they continue to look unimpressive. This would be a big win for Arkansas, trying to show that Auburn's not the only improved SEC team in Year One of its new head coach (though I would still argue Auburn is having the better turn-around). And for the Gamecocks, a loss would quite likely drop them out of the SEC Championship race once and for all, and bring even more unwanted attention to Spurrier, Clowney, and the overall motivation/direction of this preseason Top 10 team.
3. Oregon State at Washington State. This matchup has seen some of the most unexpected results. In 2010, Wazzu kept the Beavers out of a bowl game by pulling off a key upset (not that the Cougars were anywhere near bowl eligible themselves). And with solid wins over USC and Cal, there is no reason to think Mike Leach's team can't continue their improvement and knock off this offensive-minded Beavers team. Speaking of the Beavers, they joined VT and Michigan as a team that was FBS-ranked yet lost to an FCS team. Now, 2007 Michigan was actually a decent team (beat Heisman winner Tim Tebow in the Capital One Bowl), as was 2010 Virginia Tech (swept and won the ACC, but lost to Stanford in the Orange Bowl) - this leads me to believe that Oregon State may still have a worthwhile season; a win here would go a long way in getting there.
4. Baylor at Kansas State. Baylor has shown glimpses of brilliance; Kansas State has not. But the Wildcats do have two things working for them. One: the best defense Baylor has seen so far this season. The other: revenge. The Bears ruined K-State's perfect season last year and kept Bill Snyder and Co. out of the BCS Title Game. If Baylor can work through both of these stong points for K-State and continue their dominating ways, they could find themselves in an epic showdown of their own with Oklahoma on Thursday November 7 (same day as Oregon-Stanford, same weekend as VT-Miami and LSU-Alabama).
5. Navy at Duke. This is an interesting Navy team, looking like they could finish with anywhere from 6 to 10 wins (nice wins over Indiana and Air Force, questionable loss against Western Kentucky). Duke, meanwhile, has been a bit more up-and-down. Despite having yet to find an ACC win, a win against the Midshipmen would be huge for the program. If Duke can pull off the win, and net a perfect 4-0 nonconference mark, then the Blue Devils can really start aiming for their second straight bowl with very winnable games against Wake, NC State, and UVA still ahead of them.
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